


Since it keeps happening...

by WanderingBandurria



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Communication, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Halloween Costumes, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Miscommunication, Roleplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27589073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingBandurria/pseuds/WanderingBandurria
Summary: On Halloween, 1977 the Marauders decide to dress up as each other for their house party.Peter might be doing a terrible job or smashing it, that's up for debate. What's not up for debate is the fact that he fucks up, and that leads to an awkward conversation between Sirius and Remus.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 76





	Since it keeps happening...

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this short work was in response to a prompt that I got on Tumblr to write a bodyswap - I decided to write this instead, even if Halloween was a couple of weeks ago.  
> Thanks to my amazing beta, as usual, LikeABellThroughTheNight. Thank you so much for all your support, time, and dedication. Thank you for explaining this weird lenguage to me with all your patience and love, and for laughing with me at my silly mistakes and rants about words and uses.  
> Still, since English is not my first lenguage, please let me know if there's something that doesn't make sense!

_Gryffindor common room, October 31st, 1977._

_20:37, approximately one hour before the Muggle costumes Halloween Gryffindor party._

“Quit it, Peter,” Sirius mumbles from between his gritted teeth as he pushes Peter’s arms from his waist. “I _don’t_ flirt with Moony all the time,” he adds for good measure under his breath.

“Hey, Evans!” Remus, dressed as James, suddenly yells, at the same time that Peter answers, “yes, you do,” as he sniggers.

“You are not even _trying_ to act like Moony, Padfoot,” James says and hiccups, acting drunker than he really is after two beers, as he lounges on the floor. 

“I am!” Sirius protests, as his eyes stay on Remus and Lily, and how she’s laughing as Remus plays with her hair and then proceeds to mess with his own hair. _Maybe there’s some hope for James there_ , he thinks idly, _maybe if he stops acting like a prat and makes her see that there’s more in him than that._ “It’s not my fault that he’s just… nice and all. He’s hard to imitate,” he adds awkwardly. 

“Gentlemen!” Remus says, appearing by their side all the sudden and making Sirius jump. Remus takes his wand from his pocket and makes a bottle of firewhiskey levitate towards them. “Time to get ready for the party, don’t you think?” 

James-as-Peter squeaks delighted, making Peter give him the stink eye before smiling broadly to Remus and pulling Sirius-as-Remus closer. Sirius’ back hits Peter’s chest, and this would be all supremely ridiculous because Peter is on the tip of his toes, if it wasn’t because Peter pretends to whisper in his ear, but actually yells, “Oh yeah, can’t wait to get you drunk, Moony.”

Remus and James look taken aback as they blankly look at Peter and Sirius. Sirius clenches his jaws.

“What the fuck, Wormtail,” Sirius says, pushing away from him.

“That was out of line, Peter,” James says, sitting up and frowning.

Peter shakes his hands in front of himself.

“Sorry, sorry, I realized as soon as I said it!” he adds.

And then Remus just nods and laughs awkwardly.

“Alright then, if we are back on track, um, _Sirius_ ,” he says, looking at Peter, and shaking the bottle. “Would you do the honours?” and as he passes the bottle to Peter, who nervously opens it and takes a swing of booze, he eyes Sirius for a second. “ _Moony_ , a word please?” he adds, nodding with his head to the stairs to their dorm before turning around.

Sirius frowns but follows. Peter says again “I’m sorry, Padfoot, it was just a joke!”, so Sirius just turns, rolls his eyes good-naturedly and smiles at his friend, mouthing, “it’s alright” before following Remus.

As he closes the door, he sees Remus standing nervously in the middle of the room, the replica of James’ glasses on his hand.

“Hm, isn’t this a bit out of character? I don’t think James usually calls _you_ to chat with him before getting drunk,” Sirius says, forcing a laugh as he awkwardly stands by the door. He passes a hand over his hair.

“Yeah, no, I know. I just - I wanted to check in. See if you are alright. That was something - well, something weird for Peter to say. And I just wanted to assure you that I’ve never thought you meant to… I don’t know,” and Remus sighs as he passes a nervous hand over his own hair. “I don’t feel pressured by you to party, nor like you are… I don’t know, manhandling me in front of everybody or anything. So I just wanted to… Ugh, why is this so hard?” and he looks at the ceiling, his cheeks a bit flushed. 

Sirius takes one step closer, and he means to say “hey, no, everything is fine Moony,” even though he feels the lie would leave a bitter taste on his tongue. He wants to move forward and squeeze Remus’ shoulders in James’ Quidditch jersey, but he also wants to hear what Remus might add, so he just stops in his tracks and looks at him. 

They make eye contact. He thinks Remus is shaking a bit. He wonders if “James’ character” made Remus’ decide to have this talk. He wonders how much Remus regrets doing this now.

“That’s not how I see you, alright? That’s not how I think you act. I,” he swallows and blinks a couple of times, organizing his thoughts. “I like the way things are between us. And I know you have never wanted, or, or _forced me_ to get drunk to… I don’t know, whatever Peter was implying. Take advantage of me, or make me do something I don’t want to do,” he swallows thickly before looking at Sirius steadily and meaningfully.

Sirius’ breathing speeds up, and he raises his chin, looking down at Remus, measuring him. He looks for any sight of untruthfulness in Remus’ eyes, but he can’t see it, although he sees plenty of nervousness. He also sees heat, and he thinks his eyes look similar, as images of what’s been going on since September flood him - him and Remus kissing desperately, stumbling through secret passageways after a couple of drinks in Hog’s Head; memories of him and Remus falling into Sirius’ bed, after Peter and James passed out, their hands shaking as they explored under their clothes; the sound of Remus’ sighs and moans muffled against his own hand as Sirius’ sunk on his knees in a bathroom stall, while Peter and James yelled and stumbled to the rhythm of the music in their room.

_Fucking hell_ , _this is why we should have talked about this the first time it happened_ , Sirius thinks, feeling more nervous than ever. Of course, Remus being an expert at avoiding uncomfortable conversations, and Sirius not being sure how to process his emotions without feeling that the world crumbles, had made them laugh awkwardly, pat each other’s shoulders and carry on as if nothing had happened. 

And now, Remus is right to think that a part of Sirius’ brain believes Peter’s words to have an inch of truth. In Remus’ eyes, he can see that’s not the case. Not for Remus, at least.

“Alright,” he says, and his voice comes out softer than he intended. “I’ve never done anything that I didn’t want to do either, by the way,” he says, and he sees Remus swallow again and nod faintly. “I think we should talk about _this_ at some point, although probably not tonight, since we have a party to attend. But - yeah. We should talk, since it keeps happening,” and at that, Remus’ face falls for just a second, showing his vulnerability, before he puts back a mask and nods, so Sirius shakes his hands in front of himself, much as Peter did not even five minutes ago, and he takes another step further on, his hands looming over Remus’ arms, as he wonders if he should touch him or not. “No, no, what I mean, Remus, is that I very much would want for it to keep happening. And not only when we are drunk. Fuck. I guess we are talking about it now,” he adds bitterly and he clenches his hands into fists, too unsure of himself to touch Remus. He looks to the ground and tries to breathe in deeply, to unknot whatever is settled in his belly. 

The ball is now in Remus’ court, he thinks, remembering how he has heard Remus use that Muggle saying a couple of times and how it made him laugh.

“What about _it_ happening now,” Remus asks, but it doesn’t sound like a question. He’s rushing over the words and Sirius barely manages to understand him. The second he does, his head shoots up.

“Yeah, of course. Now would be a good time. I mean, we have to go back down at some point, but I think it’s a good idea to make Peter sweat it for a bit. So maybe we can um, stall a bit,” he says, his words slowing down in the end, as he loses his thread because Remus is smirking at him as he takes a step forward, getting into Sirius’ personal space, their noses almost brushing.

“Makes sense,” Remus mutters, almost against Sirius’ lips, before slowly, slowly, kissing him.

He doesn’t know how long it takes them, but when they get downstairs, James is snoring on the couch, Peter is drunker than Sirius would ever get, and he’s chatting up Mary, who surprisingly, is giggling. The half-empty bottle goes back and forth between them.

Sirius smiles benignantly. By his side, Remus’ laughs under his breath, before clapping his hands loudly, and cheerfully yelling “Alright, old chaps, time to get the party started!” before ruffling his hair once again and accommodating the copy of James’ round glasses over his nose.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Lemme know what you think of it in the comments if you want <3  
> You can find me on Tumblr with the same pseud.


End file.
